


Brevity

by CheerfullyCynical



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Character Study, F/M, I don't know how to tag this, Other, They both go looking for answers about the Timeless Child, They love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27870005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheerfullyCynical/pseuds/CheerfullyCynical
Summary: “There’s a part of you that I can’t follow.” The Master said in her mind....“Have you considered,” The Doctor replied, deathly still in the frozen tundra they had dared started, “That I can’t follow it either?”
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & The Master (Dhawan), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39





	Brevity

She felt him, like splinter in her mind, before she saw him.

The Doctor froze in pure, unfiltered terror. Every cell in her body felt alight with a fire she didn’t know she had in her, and it took more than a few minutes for her to breathe through the pain. She wondered, wildly, how he had found her – how he had been here today of all days.

_Doctor – Doctor – Doctor – Doctor…_

Her name felt like a curse when it reached her. She flinched as his thoughts rushed over her like a tidal wave, hand moving to her temple as she grew accustomed to the prick of his feelings. He had never hid his anger from her, and now he truly had no desire to hold back the brute of his pain.

Every instinct in her begged her to continue her hard-won lesson – to run far away and never return. It would have been easier than the constant pin prick of agony the Master provided her, and it only worsened as she continued to climb to the top.

Thoughts numb, she listened to the snow crunching beneath her boots as she forced herself forward, looking for the same thing he was. The storm was thick on top of the mountains of Ireland, and green landscaped greeted her as she looked down. She wished, stupidly, that it wasn’t so cold. It was her, after all, that had chosen the time, hoping that humans wouldn’t be around. 

Then, finally, her eyes focused only on _him_ – of the steadiness of his shoulders, the poised hands behind his back… The puffs of frigid air steady as they created visible condensation. He looked like royalty.

The Doctor hated him.

She needed him.

Slowly, as if there was something physically blocking her, she pushed herself up the small incline, mind closed as they ended up shoulder to shoulder, both looking down at the fall below…

… At one of the final memories Tecteun had left her… Where someone before her had plummeted and defied death.

She took a note of the frost on his purple jacket, seeing it both drenched in frigid water and specs of ice. He must be freezing. Her hands itched to brush the ice off him, but fear of rejection – of both their anger and bitterness at each other – stopped her.

“How long have you’ve been here?” She asked.

He said nothing. Instead, in a rule that used to be rigidly followed by _their_ ancestors, he bashed through her mind, viciously showing her the clear sky above him, dark and filled with stars. Her eyes closed once again, minds molding together, too scared of the situation to call him out on such a rude trick.

He had once always been welcomed in her head – in every part of her. Now, it felt like he was abusing her trust.

But it was a battle that had to be fought later.

“All I see,” The Master said, voice uncharacteristically soft, “Is a mountain.”

She looked out at their skyline – the snow that sprinkled the cloudy day with an edged beautifulness. It looked far more peaceful than either of them had ever felt. She almost wished it was ugly. Knowing it was foolish, but unable to stop herself, she took her sonic out and scanned the area, looking for anything suspicious – clues to a hidden past.

Her sonic told her nothing – a normal day with a normal timeline and a normal snow.

She thought she would be disappointed – furious, confused, disgusted. _Something._ Instead, she only felt numb. Another dead end.

She didn’t dare turn to look at him as she told him just that.

If she saw hate in his eyes one more time, her hearts would stop beating. She was sure of it.

“How was prison?” He asked, malice in his tone.

She flinched, and she took note of the way his entire mind sang at the action. He wanted revenge in a way that was unattainable, and instead he took it in any form. Even if it came from her.

“How was escaping Gallifrey?”

She finally went eye to eye with him, rage pulsing off both of them. She watched the twitch of his lips, the cruelness in his eyes as he revealed nothing of his magical escape. The Doctor wanted him to hurt as much as she was… And maybe, as she watched malice turn to something only immortals understood, that was exactly what happened.

A snowflake fell onto his lashes, glistening, and the Doctor watched as it faded from view. His eyes had always held so much emotion, and now they revealed nothing to her. In nostalgia, or maybe naivety, she raised her hand, wanting to brush the snow from his hair, only for the Master to capture her wrist in a tight grip before she could.

 _“Don’t.”_ He told her, voice sharp. Finally, a _real_ emotion crossed his face, and she felt a pang in her chest at the sight of his devastation.

In a turn of events, she pushed at his own mental shields, allowing him to glimpse the bundle of emotions and memories that she held close to hearts every time they reunited.

She thought he was gone. Yet, even when he was right in front of her, she could only feel the harsh reality of them _now_ rather than _then._

The Doctor hated him…

…And the Master loved her for it.

Slowly, painfully, the Master released his tight grip on her after her confession. She watched as he went lax, moving closer and closer to her until their foreheads were touching, reminiscent of an innocent past. Without meaning to, her hands went around his shoulders, bringing them closer, flushing their bodies together.

He was shivering, she realized, and it took everything in her not to ask him to come back to her TARDIS with her – she knew it was too dangerous.

 _“There’s a part of you that I can’t follow.”_ He said in her mind.

She felt something hot behind her own eyes, throat tightening painfully as she tried to hold in her tears. How many times did she have the same fears – stuck in prison, lifeless and dull, with the thought of a never-ending number of lifetimes pushed against her. How many times had the Master dared to cross her mind?

How many times did she fear the same thing he did?

 _“Have you considered,”_ The Doctor replied, deathly still in the frozen tundra they had dared started, _“That I can’t follow it either?”_

A puff of air left his lips – a sliver of emotion he had cut off before it dared crossed him. His hands, freezing cold, went to her face, thumbs brushing away her unruly hair, even with their foreheads still touching.

She felt cherish, and again she had to stop tears from falling.

“Don’t leave me.” She begged.

“I can’t.” He admitted – he promised.

It was dangerous. It was wonderful. It was painful and full of heartbreak.

They were all they had.

**Author's Note:**

> *Shrugs* Hope it was enjoyable!
> 
> A lot more poetic than what I normally do. I actually started this thinking I'd get into some sort of plot - some hints about the Timeless Child. Nope. I got this instead. 
> 
> As always, if you want to rant about Doctor Who, need someone to talk to in these trying times, or simply want a new blog to follow, I'm on tumblr at cheerfullycynicalfandom.tumblr.com


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